Currently whenever a user creates a new account, I have a Creation_date column that has datatype timestamp. Currently this timestamp reads 3 hours ahead of EST (if it's 5PM in Boston it reads 8PM). Is there a way to change the timezone to EST? What timezone is it set to currently?

TIMESTAMP values are converted to UTC when inserted into the DB and converted back to the current timezone set in MySQL on retrieval. The other answers show how to set the timezone in MySQL which will determine what value comes out of the database.

Another option is to use a DATETIME column, store ALL of your dates in UTC, and convert them to the desired timezone in your application (PHP or wherever you get the values from).